


The Middle Distance

by thebesttempinchiswick



Category: Doctor Who, Supernatural
Genre: F/M, M/M, as well as a reunion!Fic, enjoy :), s9 au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2014-01-21
Packaged: 2018-01-05 20:23:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1098228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebesttempinchiswick/pseuds/thebesttempinchiswick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SuperWho AU. Set in season 9 (SPN ‘verse) cause I can’t deal with it, and between seasons 3 and 4 in the DW ‘verse. Rose Tyler gets back to the correct universe, with the help of Mickey and Jake, and they land in the middle of a meteor shower. Or at least, that’s what it looks like at first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In The Midnight Hour

**Author's Note:**

> My first longer fic as well as my first crossover. Enjoy!

They had just gotten back to their proper universe, and were sitting for a moment. Jake, Mickey, and Rose were all on the landing team, and they had called Pete to let him know they had found their way back. Unfortunately, they were somewhere in backwoods Canada, and at night too. They were in the woods somewhere, and the quiet was actually peaceful. She was just happy to breathe the air in the universe she loved again. Looking up at the stars, she remembered years ago, pointing at them outside of her mum’s flat, looking at all the places they were going to go. 

  
Suddenly, some of them became brighter. And started to fall.  
It was a meteor shower, but unlike one she had ever seen before. Stars were falling towards the earth with a velocity that made it look like they were taking the sky with them. Gold, white, and ice blue stood out against the purple black of the night sky. Rose watched in awe as one of them came closer and closer and closer- until it landed in the field across the road in a flash of light.

  
“Mickey! We need to go look at that.” She shouted, starting to cross the backwoods highway. The falling stars had begun to slow, but none of the other ones had landed very close. The moon was bright, and it allowed her to see her way.  
“We should be careful,” Mickey called after her, “thought I saw some trees go down over there.”

  
As Rose made her way through the pines, she calculated the possibilities. Freak meteor shower was at the top of her list, right along with mass alien landing party. Either way, she was confident she’d be able to handle the situation, and she knew she couldn’t just leave it alone. Few people were more qualified than her to deal with alien life, maybe no one. Except the Doctor, of course, but he wasn’t here. She always held onto the vague hope that he might show up, and it amplified any time something genuinely strange happened. Now that she was back in the correct world, it grew even stronger.

She made her way to a circle of downed trees, about a football field in diameter. They looked to have recently been taken down, and all at once. Their trunks were broken at the stumps, all pointing outwards from the centre of the circle. And in the very center, she saw something moving. Carefully and slowly, she made her way towards it. As she got closer, she realized that the shape moving about was a man. A man in a very dirty trenchcoat.

“Definitely aliens.” she muttered to herself. How else could humanoids have fallen from the sky? Poor people had probably run out of fuel or something.  
She approached the man, who was struggling to his feet. “Hello? Are you alright?” His head snapped up, and with reflexes quick as lightning, he reached inside his coat and drew out a long, silver blade. “Don’t come near me!” he said. His voice was low and gravelly, and his eyes shone with wild fear, like a caged animal. She held her hands up to show she didn’t have a weapon. “It’s alright, I can help you. I saw you fall. My name’s Rose. Tell me, those other stars, were they people like you? Did you all crash your ship somewhere, or run out of fuel?”

The man cocked his head at her, narrowing his eyes in confusion. Then his face cleared. “Do you believe me to be an alien?”  
“Trust me, it’s not that weird. I’ve been dealing with them for awhile now, it’s sort of my job. I’ve got lots of friends who are aliens, and I can help you, I promise.”  
“I’m not an alien. My name is Castiel, and I’m an Angel of the Lord.

Angel, right. thought Rose. He might be on a bender, but he did fall from the sky. “Right, Castiel, and why, exactly, did you fall into the woods?”  
The man’s face shattered. His posture relaxed, and his arms fell limp by his sides. “I made a mistake.” He said, staring towards the ground. “Trusted someone I shouldn’t have, and I paid for it. He cut my grace, my angel powers, out of me, and used them to lock up Heaven. All those other stars were my brothers and sisters falling.”  
He looked so sad that it broke her heart. She had a little brother now, Tony, and if anything ever happened to him because of her, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself. “Alright, Castiel, I’ve got some friends with me, Mickey and Jake, and we’re about to look for somewhere to stay. Do you want to come, and we can figure things out in the morning? What happens when your- grace, is it- is cut away? How badly are you hurt?”

  
Mickey and Jake came rushing into the clearing. “Rose, is everything alright?”

  
“Course it is. Cas, this is Mickey and Jake. Mickey, Jake, this is Castiel. Apparently, he’s an angel, and so were all the other stars.”  
“Really, an angel? As in, like, bible stuff? That’s all real?” said Jake, incredulous.

  
“Yes, it is all real. And in answer to your question, Rose, I am a human now. I am not badly injured, but my poor judgement has affected many, and my family will probably be hunting me down. I think we should seek shelter.”

  
Rose’s brow furrowed. “I thought you said they were your brothers and sisters? Why would they hunt you down?”  
Castiel looked away again, forlorn. “I do not have the best track record. I am known for what Dean calls ‘fucking things up with good intentions’.”  
“And who’s Dean, then, one of them?”

  
Cas blushed ever so slightly. “No, um, Dean and his brother Sam are my friends. They travel around America killing demons and such, but I believe they have a property in Kansas. It is heavily guarded, and it would be ideal if I could get there. I, I sort of miss them.”

  
Rose grinned, tongue poking out of her teeth. “Sounds like this Dean might be more than a friend, hmm?” She teased, causing Castiel’s cheeks to redded even further.  
“Roose, let’s get going, it’s almost 2 AM, and we’ve gotta find a motel if we want any sleep.” Mickey complained. He got grouchy when he was tired.

  
The small gang walked for a mile or two before stumbling across an inn. They used some psychic paper to pay (procured by Torchwood in Pete’s World a few months back), and settled in. There were two adjoining rooms, and Jake offered to room with Cas. But in the middle of the night, Rose still felt compelled to check in on him. God knew she hadn’t slept in the days after Canary Wharf, and Jake slept like a corpse, so he wouldn’t be much comfort to the fallen angel.

  
As it turned out, she was right. Castiel was awake and sitting at the windowsill. “You alright?” she asked. “Thought I should come make sure.”  
He gulped, collecting himself. “It appears that I do not know how to sleep, as I have never done it before.”  
“You’ve just got to close your eyes.”

  
“I tried that.” he said. He reminded her of Tony, when he insisted he wasn’t tired. He looked at her half in need, and half annoyed that she could've suggested something do simple. She crossed the room to the kitchenette and pulled some milk out of the (thankfully stocked) refrigerator. She put it in a glass and heated it until it was warm. She held the glass out to him. “Drink.” she said.

  
He drank it down. He immediately began to feel his eyelids droop. “How did you know to do that?”  
“That’s what my mum used to do for me and my brother. He’s still very little, so I guess it’s fresh in my memory.” She smiled, “Now off to bed.”  
“Thank you.” said Castiel with a smile, and she could tell it was genuine.

  
>

  
The next morning, Jake managed to charm the inkeeper, a stout, middle-aged woman, into lending them a car and giving them directions. The nearest town was St. George, about 32 kilometers south. From there, they would have the grocer who delivered her food take the car back, and they could get one of their own. "We've got a long way to go to Kansas." Said Mickey. "So we might even need a Winnebago or something." Cas smiled at the thought of Dean's face if they pulled up in front of the bunker in an RV. A thought struck him, and he turned to Rose, who was sitting in the backseat with him.

  
"So why were you three in the woods at night?"  
"Well you're an angel, you must know about parallel universes. We had just come from one."  
Cas's brow furrowed in confusion. "It's extremely difficult to travel in between universes, usually an angel's power is required."  
A look that he couldn't quite decipher crossed her face. "I know."

  
"Why did you come here?"

  
"I was born here, and I wasn't supposed to have left. I wanted to get back."

  
His face cleared. "Oh yes, I remember. You were born on a Thursday, correct?"

  
She looked at him in wonder. "Yeah I was, but what do you mean you remember?"

  
He smiled at her. "I am millions of years old. I remember almost everything that has ever happened, and a few things that haven't. But I am the angel of Thursday, which makes me your guardian angel. I remember every child born on a Thursday." He seemed to be hit by a sudden sadness. "At least, when I have my powers, that is."

  
"Don't worry." She put a hand on his shoulder. "Your friends, Sam and Dean, they hunt monsters, right? They must know a lot about this stuff, I'm sure they'll be able to help you get your grace back."

  
He smiled at her again. "Thank you." Again, his gratitude was genuine, something she wasn't quite used to. He used that phrase only when he meant it, never throwing it away out of politeness. The real gratitude behind every one made her question just who this man was.

  
They pulled into the town and found the grocer, so they could send the car back. Next, they walked the few blocks to the used auto park, and began to look around. It was between a minivan or an RV, and the RV won. They decided that it would be cheaper to buy diesel for it than to sleep in hotel rooms all the time. They ended up with a class C motorhome, the kind with an extra bed over the cabin of the car. It was the best deal they were going to get, and they purchased it with a sort of quiet excitement. They were going home, all of them.

  
They picked up as many necessities and as much food as they could carry before finally getting a map and heading out. The name of their RV was painted on its side in big letters. It was called "The Middle Distance."


	2. Blowin' in the Wind

When they got to the U.S.-Canada border, Rose used the psychic paper to get them across. They managed to take a road that was pretty busy, and the officers quickly waved hem across in order to keep traffic moving. “Not very thorough here in America, are they?” asked Rose. She nudged Cas with her elbow. She was driving, with Castiel sitting shotgun next to her while Mickey and Jake relaxed in the trailer. They had driven all night. “Not very, no. One in a million will be.” 

“Hmm, you’d think they’d put those guys on the border right? Or are they all in the FBI?”

“I have no idea where most of them are. Cops are easy to fool. One time, Dean gave me a fake FBI badge, and I proceeded to hold it upside down. He fixed it right in front of a cop, and he said nothing!”

Rose laughed with him. “Sounds like you two had some adventures, didn’t you?” 

Cas smiled, but his eyes sang with nostalgia. “Yeah, we did. When we weren’t trying to keep the world from ending, that was.”  
  
Rose shook her head in agreement. “I know the feeling.” 

“What do you mean?”

She smiled. “I used to have a friend with a time machine. We traveled about, got into our fair share of trouble.”

“A time machine. That’s not something you see every day.”

“Yeah, he wasn’t a bloke you saw every day.”

“Were you two together? You sound like you miss him quite a lot.”

“We didn’t put a label on it, if that’s what you mean, but yeah, I guess we were. Especially towards the end.”

“What do you mean, ‘the end’?”

Her expression morphed into one of sadness, almost like regret. “I told you we came from a parallel universe, yeah? Well I wasn’t born there, I was born here. My friend with the time machine lives here, and I didn’t choose to go over there. There was a battle, and I was trapped. I thought I might not ever get back, but I found a way.”

“Am I correct in assuming you are not American?”

“You are. I was born in London, and that’s where I’m headed. Mickey was born there too, but Jake was born in the other world. They’re helping me get back, but then they might go back to the other world.” 

Cas breathed a sigh. “It seems I have deterred you pretty far from your planned course.”

“That’s nonsense. We didn’t have a real plan anyway, so we can just get a flight from Kansas City or something. Besides, couldn’t leave you alone in a field, now could I? That’s not what friends are for.” 

Cas looked confused, but Rose could sense the hope carefully masked beneath it. “Am I your friend, then?” He asked. 

She laughed. “‘Course you are. You’re awfully nice for someone who just fell from the sky, after all. You’d think angels might have ego issues, or like, try and convert everyone to Christians. You’re a nice bloke.” 

Cas laughed. “I can assure you, both of those types of angels exist. I am not one of them, however, and it seems to work in my favor.” Now they were both laughing, driving through the twists and turns of the Pacific Northwest. The world around them was a body of green, tree limbs filled with thick pine needles, and trunks covered in velvety moss. The grass underneath them was a deep emerald, and the only other color around was the grey of the highway, snaking through the forest like a vein. 

They laughed and chatted for hours, stopping at lunch to fill up and switch drivers. “Cas, you wanna drive?” asked Rose. Castiel froze, before muttering something unintelligible. “What was that?” asked Rose again.

“I do not know how to drive, I have never required it before now.”

“Well it’s probably time you learned, then.” She tossed him the keys. “Hop in the front.”

“Are you sure?” asked Cas, settling into the driver’s seat.

“Why not? We haven’t seen anyone for miles, and it’s really not that hard. You’ve gotta learn sometime. 

Besides, if you can drive this big rig, everything else will be easy.”

He turned the key in the ignition as they buckled. “Okay.” said Rose. “Driving 101. You see the thing marked PRNDL? Well, the P means Park, the N means Neutral, and the D means drive. To shift between them, you’ve gotta hold the brake down."

“Which one’s the brake?”

“One on the left.” Cas did as he was told, shifting the car into drive.

“Good, now ease off of the brake slowly, okay? The car will start moving on its own at first.” 

Again, Cas did as he was told, and laughed in euphoria when the RV began to slowly creep out of the parking space. He looked at Rose, and she was grinning at him. “Good, good, now turn the wheel to get out, and give her a little gas.” 

Cas maneuvered his way out of the gas station and onto the road. “Even better!” 

Over the next 20 minutes, she taught him how to shift between gears, and more importantly, how to watch for cops on the highway. “If you wanna go fast, that’s fine, but be sure not to get caught.” When they came to an intersection, she covered braking, traffic lights, and turn signals. After an hour, Cas was driving without much instruction or difficulty, and after two, they were holding a conversation again while he drove.

Eventually, they stopped for dinner, and Mickey and Jake took over again. Before that, however, they decided to buy a round to congratulate him. “Just one, alright?” warned Rose. “Can’t be drinking and driving, now can we?” 

They got ahold of some burgers to wash down the beer, and Cas ate his with almost comical noises of pleasure. Rose ordered some french fries with hers, and dug into them with the same fervor. “Though you didn’t like the American kind.” said Mickey. “I don’t like them as much, but these are still good. Mm, they just didn’t do potatoes right in dad’s world.” 

“I couldn’t taste a difference.” said Mickey.

“She’s right.” said Jake, stealing some of Rose’s fries. “Much better here.” Rose swatted his hand away. 

When they were all finished, they paid the check and walked back out to the car. As they were walking, a chill crept down Cas’s spine. He sensed them before he heard them, two extra sets of footsteps in the distance. As soon as he heard them, he turned around, at the exact moment one of them jumped him.

“Aaagh!” He cried out as his attacker pinned him to the ground. He wrestled the man as hard as he could, but his arms were pinned by his head. “Castiel.” The man cooed with a sticky-sweet voice. “Our favorite brother.” Brother? Oh, no. 

No no no. 

Their attackers were angels

 


	3. Behind Blue Eyes

“Rose!” he yelled “Run! They’re angels, they’ll kill you!” He fought with the man on top of him. “Who are you? Who sent you? Was it Naomi?!” The angel laughed in his face. 

  
“Naomi’s not in charge anymore, Cassie. Bartholomew’s the leader now, and he wants your head on a pike.”

  
The angel slipped up for a moment, allowing Cas to throw him off. They both got to their feet and drew their blades. “Who are you then, and why are you helping him?” 

  
“What you don’t recognize me? It’s me, Nuriel!”

  
“Yeah? And who’s your friend?”

  
Rose and Mickey were currently fending the other angel off, but she quickly grew bored and strutted over to help Nuriel.   
“I’m Adriel, not that it’s going to matter to you once we tear your vessel apart.”

  
She had spoken too soon. For they had backed Cas into a wall, and this had allowed him to quickly and quietly draw a banishing sigil. He turned quick as lightning and pressed his bleeding hand into the center, vanquishing his brother and sister. Rose, Mickey, and Jake ran over to him. “Are you alright? You’re bleeding!” 

  
He was exhausted and panting. “I’m fine, but that banishing sigil won’t last. They’ll find us again.”  
“What do we have to do?” asked Rose as she led Castiel into the trailer.

  
“We need to get to a tattoo parlor. I can get an enochian symbol on my ribcage to hide me from the angels.”  
“Should we all get them, then?”

  
“No.” said Castiel, as Rose helped him out of his trenchcoat. “It’s me they’re looking for.”

  
“Well you’ll have to change clothes first, you’re covered in blood.”

  
“Do we have any extra clothes?”

  
“Yeah, remember? We picked some up at a secondhand shop before we left Prince George.”

  
“Okay, but we should really get going. I don't think it is wise for us to stick around, those angels will be back soon.”

  
They soon decided that the closest town was Yakima, and they could get the tattoo done there before continuing to drive.   
Cas looked uncomfortable in the chair while it was being done, and he was. He couldn't believe this had happened. These people had trusted him, and he had led them into danger. He cursed himself. That seemed to be his MO, leading his friends into harm's way. "I am so sorry for this. I did not think they would find me so quickly." He said to Rose.

  
Rose felt bad for him. He reminded her of herself. He had made a mistake and been ripped from his home, and all he was trying to do was get back to his friends. She let him hold her hand while the tattoo was being done, and when the tattoo artist asked if they were going out, she saw his face grow hot with blush.

  
“I’m seeing someone else, we’re just friends.” she had said. She realized that Cas probably wasn’t very used to that sort of thing at all. She thought of what the Doctor might've said. The words "very human-y" came to mind. 

  
When they were finished, they used some cash they had managed to procure to pay, and got on the road again. Mickey and Jake drove all night while Cas and Rose slept, and in the morning, they stopped for breakfast before switching again.  
By lunchtime, they had arrived in Blackfoot, Idaho. They roused Mickey and Jake so that they could eat, and then they quickly left. 

  
For the next few days, they were careful not to stay in one place too long, lest they be found by someone who was hunting Cas.

  
Cas felt terrible, and Rose saw the change come over him. His eyes dulled over and he talked less and less, which meant she only tried more and more. 

  
Through the silence, he thought. Although he would never admit it, a lot of it was about Dean. What would he say? Would he know what to do, or would he be just as lost?  
Would he be disappointed? Would he tell him it would be alright?  
He tried to hear Dean's voice, but all he heard was his own. 

  
 _Wow, Cas, you really screwed up this time. I mean honestly, you're got a troubled history with most people, but these guys? They're only trying to help! You're putting innocent people in danger! How could you? Is this what your father would've wanted?_

  
Rose watched the trouble brewing behind his eyes for awhile. She knew he felt guilty, but she didn't know just how much. She wished she could help. It didn't seem like she could help anyone lately. She and her friends hadn't had it easy, jumping between universes, after all. They had seen wars. Hell, they had to jump _because_ of a war, and that took its toll after a while. But she saw something in this man that made her want to reach out to him, to connect. He was lost, and so was she. It ignited compassion in her, and it made her determined to see this through. 

 

 


	4. London Calling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This might be my last update for a few days, I'm about to go on vacation. Less than a week, though. To make up for it, this one's much longer than the last (and very interesting)

They managed to avoid trouble for a day or two, until they had to stop in Green River, Wyoming, for gas.

  
They were only about three days out of Kansas, but everyone was tired. And boy, was it showing. They were driving out of the town, past an old, abandoned farmhouse, when a buzzing began to fill the air. It started off in the distance but grew closer and closer until it was so loud it was disorienting. As it reached its peak, their car stopped moving completely. 

  
“Rose!” Castiel tried to shout over the noise. “I didn’t stop!”

  
As the buzzing died down, the four of them stepped out of the car. 

  
“Why’d we stop?” asked Jake. Rose was trying to turn the car on again, but without any luck. “It’s dead.” she said. 

  
Off in the distance was the abandoned farmhouse. “The noise started over there, so we should go take a look. Cas, d’you think it could’ve been angels?” asked Rose.

  
Cas shook his head. “I’ve never seen angels do anything like that. They would’ve just attacked us.” 

  
The group made their way over to the farmhouse to discover that it was not completely abandoned after all. There was a black SUV out back with windows tinted dark. No one, however, was moving about. The entire property was surrounded for miles by prairie grass grown high overhead, and a few patches of trees. 

  
Rose produced a small handgun from her belt, and upon seeing this, Mickey and Jake did the same. Cas pulled out his angel blade. 

  
“I hate to do this, but we don’t know who’s in there.” Whispered Rose. It was true; she didn’t like guns, but she had to look out for herself and her team. They had to be safe, and with no TARDIS to fly off in, that meant guns. They quietly entered the building, scanning around every corner before entering another room. 

  
They had covered the first floor when they heard a creak from upstairs. Silently and swiftly, Rose began to lead the way up the stairs. The second floor turned out to be just a hallway, leading to one room at the end, facing the front of the house. Not ideal, but there was nothing they could do. 

  
They crept as silently as possible down the hall, but they weren’t quiet enough. Just before they reached the end of the hall, one of the figures in the room turned to face them.

  
The woman, seeing that they had guns, quickly drew hers as well.

   
“Ianto, get back!” She yelled, in a very loud Welsh accent. Rose flicked on the safety on her handgun before pointing it. She didn’t want to actually fire, just look like she might. 

  
“Who are you?” Yelled the woman. She had black hair and green eyes, and she wore sturdy clothes that looked like they were good for field work. Her partner, the one she had called Ianto, wore a nicely cut suit. 

  
She took a deep breath before putting on her most authoritative face. “Rose Tyler, Assistant Director of Torchwood, Defender of Earth. I demand to know what your purpose is here and any information you have about that electrical buzzing that stopped my vehicle.”

  
“Ha! Nice try, dearie. Gwen Cooper, Torchwood Three, Cardiff, Wales. The Director’s gonna be back any minute, the real one, that is. Now I demand to know, how did you find out who we are, and why are you pretending to be one of us?”

   
Rose’s cool, calm facade immediately dissolved into rage.

   
“What?! That is not possible.” She bit off every syllable in anger. “Torchwood was destroyed in this world, I saw it! They nearly destroyed two universes, and innocent people paid for it. So tell me, who the hell dared to build them back up?!”

   
Gwen was shouting as well now. “What do you mean ‘this universe’?”

  
Now she was fuming. “Whoever your ‘director’ is, they didn’t exactly tell you the whole story, eh? Torchwood One, in this universe, they opened a rift to another one. They let millions of Cybermen and Daleks through, nearly ripped apart the universes themselves. I stopped them, and I fell through to the other side doing it. If you’re Torchwood, then why the hell don’t you know about any of that?!”

  
"Maybe because I didn’t know either.” A deeper voice spoke from the hallway. Both women whipped around to face him. “I mean, they know about Canary Wharf, obviously. I didn’t tell them about you because I didn’t want to talk about it, and that was that. I only saw the Doctor a few months ago, and before that I thought you were actually dead.”

   
Rose stared at him in awe. “Me dead?! You were dead! You died on the games station!” 

  
Jack smiled at her, opening his arms with his palms facing up. “Not so much, darlin’.”

   
Rose wasn’t assured. “How could you, Jack? If you knew all that, how could you rebuild Torchwood? Why?”   
More importantly, she thought, how had the Doctor met with Jack again and let this go on?

  
Jack was still calm. “It’s kinda funny, the Doc asked me the same thing. When I rebuilt them, I made them better, and I did it for you. Both of you. No more of that shit Yvonne was pulling, we’re here to protect people now.” 

  
Finally, the tense air in the room dissipated. Rose ran into Jack’s arms in a warm embrace. “I really missed you.” 

“I missed you too, Rosie.” 

“How did you get back?”

“I fixed my vortex manipulator on the games station and landed in the 1900’s. Got into a fight on Ellis Island and found out I couldn’t die. Made my way back to England and waited things out until my timeline met up with yours and the Doctor’s.” He had grown sort of used to telling the story by then.

“Which was a few months ago, so you waited for a century, Jack!” Her eyes widened. “Why can’t you die?”

He grimaced. “You’re not gonna like it.” 

“Tell me anyway.”

“Bad Wolf made me immortal.”

Rose’s heart dropped into her stomach. She backed away, shaking her head. 

“No, no it can’t be. Oh god, Jack!” She felt tears spring to her eyes, and Jack rushed forward to comfort her. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t try to, I-”

“Take it easy, okay? I don’t blame you, I never did. I know you were just trying to help. And honestly, it’s been more of a blessing than a curse.”

She shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Jack. Still.”   
He decided to change the subject. “What about you? How did you get back, how long did it take?” 

“I built a dimension cannon. Took me about a year to build, I’ve been trying to get back for about six months. Actually got back the other day, and we’re on an RV trip to Kansas to drop our friend Cas off with his friends, Sam and Dean. Then we’re gonna try and get back to London.” 

“Are you gonna try and find the Doctor?”

“Ideally, yes.” 

“So Jack, why are you in America?” asked Mickey. 

Jack huffed. “One of my idiot friends was flying around by Venus when their ship was hit by a huge gas flare coming off the surface. They lost the external inertial dampener, and they thought it might’ve landed on Earth, so they asked me to look for it. We managed to locate it, but I accidentally set it off, and now we’ve gotta drive over and pick it up.” 

“Was that the buzzing that stopped our car?” asked Rose

“It was.” replied Jack. “It should wear off in about half an hour, and then we can all get going. 

>

They lounged around for the time being, swapping stories and anecdotes about their years apart. Rose and Mickey told Jack, Gwen, and Ianto the stories of their travels with the Doctor after Jack had ‘died’.

"So you just shot the window out and he flew into the black hole?! That’s awesome! You didn’t tell me that part before!” said Jake, when the story of the Beast came up. 

Rose blushed, and Jack shook his head, smiling. “Tempestate timere, sed magis timere mulier tuetur.” he said. Rose blushed even further. 

“You’re never gonna let me live that down, are you!” 

“What did he say?” asked Mickey. Jack elbowed Rose, who rolled her eyes. “It’s stupid, it’s just something someone said to us in New Rome.”

“Well what does it mean?” asked Gwen, intrigued. 

Rose sighed. “It means- ‘fear the storm, but even more, fear the woman who protects him.” 

Mickey guffawed. “Funny thing is, it’s not that far off!” He said through his laughter. 

“I was a little angry, okay? That’s all it was!” said Rose. 

“A little angry?” said Jack, still laughing “You kicked down the door to the soldier’s barracks and demanded an audience with the Emperor!” 

“Alright, so I got a little out of hand, but it’s not my fault he got arrested! Besides, we weren’t even doing anything wrong. We just stumbled into the black market on accident!”

 

“Still,” said Jack “They were right. You were pretty fierce, after all.” 

>

A little while later, Gwen was able to start the car. Her and Ianto got in the tinted SUV and prepared to leave, and Mickey, Jake, and Cas waited for Rose to come with them. 

“Call me, alright? said Jack, typing his number into Rose’s mobile. “Let me know what’s going on, if you need anything, if you guys are stuck somewhere. I didn’t sit on my thumbs all these years, I have quite a few connections. Don’t think you’re bothering me, alright? I want to hear from you!” 

“I promise I’ll call, Jack. And call me too, especially if the Doctor shows up. Don’t let him leave before I speak with him, alright? Even if he thinks you’re on a bender.” 

Jack laughed before pulling Rose into a hug. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.” she said “See you soon.”

He walked to the car, trenchcoat swooping behind him, and drove away. 

Rose took a deep breath, and turned to face her friends. “Right. Off we go!” 


	5. Bad Moon Rising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back from vacation! I did manage to get a little writing done, and I think we're in the ballpark of 11 or 12 chapters here, maybe more. We'll see! This one is where things start to pick up.

They decided to spend the night at a motel since everyone had been up all day. The next morning, Rose awoke to find Castiel standing on the balcony outside. 

  
"Rose,” he said urgently when she walked outside. “Your friend Jack made me realize that I have completely forgotten to call Sam and Dean. May I please borrow your cell phone?” 

“Yean ‘course.” she said, fishing it out of her pocket. “Can’t believe we didn’t think of this sooner.”

“Well I am unaccustomed to needing a cell phone, so it simply did not occur to me.” said Cas. 

He dialed in Sam’s number first, and he picked up on the third ring. “Sam Winchester.”   
“Sam, it’s me, Castiel.”

“Holy shit!” yelled Sam. He was so loud that Cas had to hold the phone away from his ear for a second. 

“Dean, pull over!” said Sam on the other end of the phone. He heard him hand the phone to Dean. 

“Hello?” said Dean, sounding confused.

“Dean, it’s me, Castiel.”

“What the fuck?! We’ve been looking everywhere for you, you could’ve been dead for all we knew! Where the hell have you been?!” 

“I apologize, I did not realize you would be so worried.”

“Dammit, Cas, of course we were worried about you!”

“I am in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I made some friends in British Columbia, and we are driving to Lebanon. Hopefully we will be there in the next two days.”

“Why the hell were you in British Columbia?”

Cas grimaced. “When I fell, I landed in a forest there, and they found me. Dean-”

“Jesus christ, are you okay?”

“I am better than I was, but Dean, I am no longer an angel. Metatron tricked me, and cut out my grace.” 

“We can deal with that later, alright? We can fix it, but we need you back first. Don’t bother driving all the way to Lebanon. We’re in Pueblo, Colorado, hunting a shapeshifter. It’s probably gonna take another day or two, and you can make it here today. Can you do that?”

Cas held his hand over the speaker for a moment. Rose was rubbing her temples.   
“Rose,” he asked “would it be possible for us to divert to Pueblo, Colorado? Sam and Dean are there now, and its a shorter drive.” 

“Yeah, sure we can.” she said. 

“We’ll be on our way soon, Dean. I must warn you, however, that the angels are after me. They blame me for what happened. I got an enochian tattoo to hide from them, but be sure they are not after you too. Please be safe.”

“We’ll be fine, Cas, alright? None of this is your fault. We’ll figure it out when you get here. Sam and I are staying at the Traveler’s Motel on North Santa Fe Ave. Room 17.” 

“I’ll see you soon, Dean.”

“You too, Cas.” There was a click on the end of the line. Cas turned around to find Rose sitting down with her head in her hands.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

Her head came up and she smiled at him. 

“Yeah, ‘m fine. I just get headaches sometimes, and I‘m having a bad one.” 

“Okay. Thank you for letting me use your phone.” 

“Yeah, no problem. We should get going if we want to make it there before dark.” 

“Do you want an aspirin?” 

“No thanks. Last time I took one, it made me throw up. Don’t know what it is about it.”

“Alright.”

The drive went fast, that was, until they hit the Colorado border. Rose, Jake, and Mickey, having grown up in England, were inexperienced as to the signs of a tornado. Cas had a little more expertise, but he was completely lost in thought. That was, until he heard sirens sounding in the distance. 

"Rose." He grabbed her arm in a panic. "Look at the sky."

It was the most eerie feeling in the world. The sky was the color of mud, with a little bit of light around the edges, but other than that, it could've been nighttime. Stepping outside the car revealed it to be extremely humid, and starting to rain. The wind was picking up, and they looked at each other with fear in their eyes. "A tornado is coming." Said Cas. 

"What do we do?!" Exclaimed Rose. 

"Uh... Uhm..." Cas fumbled, trying to remember anything that he knew about stormsafety. "Lie in a ditch!" He exclaimed. 

They ran around to the back of the car and got Mickey and Jake out as quickly as possible, shoving them to the ground next to the road. Sure enough, a funnel cloud began to form in the distance. It touched down in a field to their left, and the wind howled around them.

If there had been trees, they might've been uprooted, but they were in a cornfield. They watched as ears of corn rose up with the wind and flew around them. Thankfully, their camper stayed still. 

When it was all over, the sky began to clear, and everyone was shaken.  
"Well that was a lot scarier than on telly." Breathed Rose. 

"Tell me about it." Said Cas. 

They looked at each other, and all of a sudden the adrenaline kicked in again, making them laugh uncontrollably. 

"That was a real storm back there, wasn't it?" Said Rose through her laughter. 

"Now I've done it all." Said Cas, smiling. 

"You think?" Asked Rose with a grin.

"Not nearly." Answered Cas.

> 

As it turned out, they made it there around four in the afternoon. The skies were cloudy, so it gave the illusion that it was later in the day. When they knocked on the motel room door, it was Sam who answered.

"Cas!" He exclaimed, before pulling the smaller man into a bear hug. 

Rose stared at the man hugging Cas. He was so tall he barely fit in the doorway, and he had a mop of straight brown hair that fell to his shoulders. He wore a plaid flannel under a utility jacket, and a pair of jeans. 

“It’s good to see you.” He clapped Cas on the back and ushered everyone inside. 

Dean had been laying on the bed inside, but jumped up once he heard his brother answer the door. 

He stopped a moment to take in Cas’s new look. He had lost the trenchcoat and now wore a red hoodie. He had that five-o’clock shadow, and he smiled at Dean.

“Cas.” he said, smiling back. The skin around his eyes crinkled and he pulled Castiel into a tight hug, taking in his scent. He smelled a little less like ozone and a little more like clean linen and musk. 

“Hello, Dean.” said Castiel. 

“How’ve you been, man?” asked Dean, pulling back and clapping his hand onto Cas’s shoulder. 

“I have been alright, I think things could’ve been much worse. How about you?” 

“We’ve just been worried about you. But other than that, nothing major has happened, since-, well you know.” 

Cas shook his head. “I am sorry for that. I should never have trusted Metatron.”

“What did I say? It’s not your fault, okay? We can figure this out, like we always do. In the meantime, we’ve got the shapeshifter, we just need to gank it.”

“Where is it?”

“It’s in the sewers. From what we can gather, it’s hideout is under the art gallery down the street. We think it’s taken the form of the curator.”   
said Sam, speaking to everyone. 

Mickey, Rose, and Jake had introduced themselves to Sam. Rose spoke up.   
“My name’s Rose, and these are my friends Mickey and Jake.” she looked at Dean, introducing herself to him. “We deal with aliens and stuff, mostly. I’ve never dealt with demons before, but I just want to ask, is there any way to take care of it besides killing it?”

Dean looked at her like she was crazy. “Hate to break it to you, sister, but if we don’t kill it, it’ll kill us. Me and my brother have been doing this our whole lives, and you can’t let these things live. Their only purpose is to kill and to make more killers.”

She looked worried, but she shrugged. “Alright.” she said. She wasn’t comfortable with killing, but they were demons. She had never met a demon, save for the beast on the impossible planet. She figured these guys must know what they were talking about, ifCastiel trusted them so much. 

Just then, her headache returned with a pounding fury, and she doubled over, panting. The pain was so intense that it seemed to spread down her spine and clutch around her lungs. It was almost like a burning feeling, and it made her vision go white. 

“Rose, are you alright?” asked Mickey. She couldn’t answer. She couldn’t speak. She was about to cry out, but suddenly, the pain began to fade. She struggled to take a deep breath. “I’m fine, it’s just a bad migraine.” 

“Since when do you have migraines?” asked Jake. 

“Oh, about three years now? Just getting older, I guess.” she quipped. 

But Mickey looked worried. “Rose, you’re not even 25 yet. Are you sure you’re alright?”

Honestly, she wasn’t. But no one else needed to worry, she could deal with it some other time. “I’m fine, honestly.” she said. 

“Okay.” said Mickey, but he wasn’t entirely convinced. No one was, for that matter.

Once it got dark, they were on their way. Jake and Mickey drove the RV, following Dean,Sam, Cas, and Rose, who were in the impala. The place was less than a mile away, and Sam and Dean gave instructions in the parking lot about how to kill a shapeshifter. 

“You can either decapitate it,” said Sam, handing out weapons, “or shoot it with silver bullets. But whatever you do, do not ever let it touch you. Understood?” Everyone nodded. 

They entered the building slowly, checking around every corner. They entered an empty gallery room through a door on one side, only to have it slam shut behind them.   
The lights began to turn on and off rapidly, shooting sparks everywhere while they did.

Dean grabbed whoever was closest to him and began shoving everyone towards the remaining doorway. 

The door was locked, but as soon as they discovered this, the other one opened. 

It was the shapeshifter, disguised as a middle-aged man, and toting a gun. Dean and Sam raised their own guns at him, and everyone else followed suit.

The man began to laugh. “You hunters, always thinking on your feet. I bet those are silver, aren’t they?”

The group gave no response. 

“Now.” said the thing wearing the curator’s face. “Here’s what’s gonna happen. You’re all gonna stay right there, and I’m gonna leave, and no one will be any the wiser come

tomorrow. Alright?” 

The Winchesters cocked their guns.

“Ah ah ah,” said the shifter, “anyone moves, and I shoot. See, that’s the problem with these big hunting parties. I don’t even have to aim to hit!” he laughed. 

Rose’s head was pounding again, and her vision began to blur, but she held her ground. But the shifter saw her out of the corner of his eye, swaying on her feet. The arm that held her gun up was slowly dropping, and he saw his chance.  
BANG!


	6. When Doves  Cry

When the glow dyed down, all the blood left was on Jake’s hands and stained into her T shirt. There wasn’t even a scar where the bullet had been. “She looks the same. I thought she said it changed you, Mick?” said Jake softly.

Mickey shrugged, but continued in awe. “Probably ‘cause she’s not a full Time Lord. She was born human.” 

“How do you think she did it then?”

“Well, if Bad Wolf made Jack immortal, why not her?”

Jake shook his head. “Mad. It’s all mad, it is.” 

“Let’s just get her back to the room. We need to call Jack. When this happened to the Doctor, he slept for awhile, and didn’t wake up. She’s gonna need to rest, and Jack might know about this stuff.” Jake picked Rose up, and they turned to face the hunters. “Is it alright if we put her in the motel bedroom? We can pay for another night if you want.”

“That won’t be necessary, it’s completely fine. You have been very kind to me, and I hope to return the favor.” answered Castiel. 

They put Rose on the cot in the RV to take her over, and on the ride back, Cas quickly related to Dean the story of how he met Rose and her friends. “They went very far out of their way for me, and they seemed glad to do it. They are friends of mine.” 

“Relax, Cas, they can stay there for as long as they need. They can come back to the bunker if they need to, okay?”

“Yes, thank you.”

When they got back to the room, they managed to wake Rose just long enough to get her into pyjamas, and put her into bed. Then, Mickey found her mobile and called Jack.

“Jack-”

“Micckeeyy! Hey, what's up over your way?”

“Jack, Rose was shot, and she regenerated.” he said all in one breath. 

“What??! Are you fucking serious?! How??” 

“Well we think it was Bad Wolf, just like you.”

“But I don’t regenerate! I just pop back, there’s no glowing or anything!” 

“What?” Exclaimed Mickey. “Then what happened to her?”

“I don’t know, Mickey!"   
Mickey huffed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We don't know what to do. Is there any way we can contact the Doctor?"

"Well," said Jack "I don't have a number, but lemme make a few calls, okay? How is she?" 

Mickey glanced over at her. Her chest was rising and falling normally, but she still hadn't opened her eyes. "She's fine for now."

"Alright. I'll see what I can find. In the meantime, take care of her. What did you guys do when the Doctor regenerated?"

Mickey shrugged. "I don't know." He said. "Rose and her mum took care of him. Dunno what they did exactly."

Jack sighed. "Well then find someone who can mother her until I get ahold of the Doctor. I mean, no offense, but you and Jake aren't exactly the warm-and-nurturing kind."

"Yeah yeah, I know. Thanks Jack, we'll figure it out." He hung up. 

"Alright, we need to find someone to take care of her for the time being. Do you guys know anyone who can be, like, a surrogate mum for a few days?" 

"There's always Jody, she'd help." Said Sam. He was about to continue, but he was interrupted by the sound of a slamming door and footsteps on the pavement outside. 

Cas had burst out the door, leaving everyone staring at the place he had been standing. 

Dean and Sam shared a concerned look. "I'll go after him, you guys stay here and try to figure out our next move." He didn't stay to hear the comments, he just bolted out the door after Cas. 

>

Both cars were still in the lot, so Cas must've gone somewhere on foot. There wasn't much around in the way of nature walks, but he figured Cas wanted to be alone, so he walked up the block, checking every alley he passed. 

Eventually, he came to a park, and there on a bench, under a streetlamp, sat a man in a red sweatshirt with his head in his hands. 

Dean jogged over to the bench, breathing a sigh of relief. "Cas," he began softly. 

"Stop Dean. Just don't." Warned Cas. Dean huffed and sat down next to him on the bench. Cas   
didn't lift his head. 

"Look, buddy," Dean continued "I know it was intense back there, but it wasn't your fault, and you didn't have to run." 

"It's all my fault!" Cas spat out. "I ran because I couldn't look at any of you. I almost got her killed. She should've died, you heard her friends. It would've been my fault." 

Dean tried to console him. "Look man, she didn't die, alright? She's probably gonna be fine. And none of this was your fault, that damn shifter outsmarted us all." 

"But he shouldn’t have been able to get past me. I'm an angel, Dean, or at least I was. I'm useless now."

Dean was about to disagree, when he felt a pang of regret. How many times had he told Cas just that? How many times had he called him a 'baby in a trenchcoat' without his mojo? 

"Cas, you're not useless. Alright? I know I've given you crap in the past about not being at 100% angel power, but I'm sorry. You're my friend and we don't keep you around just cause you're useful." 

"Frankly I'm not sure why you keep me around at all. I'm a poor excuse for a hunter and all I ever do is get in your way and mess things up." 

"Holy crap, Cas, we both know that's not true. How long have you thought this shit, man?"

Cas's eyes took on a faraway stare. He thought back to when Raphael almost killed him, when he needed Dean but couldn't bring himself to ask for help. Crowley. Before that, the apocalypse. Being cast out of heaven. The war between his brothers that he couldn't stop.   
"Awhile, I guess." 

Dean realized he was crying before he did. He pulled Cas into his arms, aware that a very old dam was about to break inside of his friend. 

When it did, it all came spilling out. Everything from "don't step on that fish" to landing in a field in Canada. His family had cast him out, and then Sam and Dean, and when everything was over he still managed to end up alone and responsible, facing down a blonde girl that he thought was gonna kill him but only wanted to help. And look what happened to her. And above all that, his family had fallen now too, and as always, they wanted his head on a pike. 

And for once, it was too much, and he let it be too much. He didn't try to compartmentalize or shove it down. He didn't try to keep on going. The dam had broken. 

And when it was over, when his breathing evened, he looked up with red cheeks and swollen eyes to see that Dean was still there. 

"Cas, I need you to listen to me, and actually absorb my words. Okay?"

Cas nodded once. His throat was too tight to speak. 

"You are not useless. Everything is not your fault. You've been living in this world for how long now? A few millennia? That's right. You should know better than anyone that sometimes, things are really really shitty. They just are. But that doesn't make it your fault."

"But I'm the reason that-"  
Dean held up a hand to silence him. "I'm not done yet. Sometimes things just happen, and all you can do is try your best to fix them. Whether it was your mistake or not. And for the record, we don't keep you around because of your angel mojo. Don't get me wrong, alright, I need you. And when I first met you, yeah, all I really cared about was the demon smiting stuff. But that was a long time ago and things have changed. You're family now, and that means we take care of you. Family takes care of each other." He breathed out, awaiting Cas's response. 

The angel sat in thought for a long moment. Of all the things he had expected Dean to say, this was not one of them. Total acceptance, forgiveness, had never occurred to him. He looked up at Dean, at the pure love shining in his eyes. 

"I love you."


	7. Earth Angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: There Is Smut In This Chapter. For most of the chapter, actually.

The shock in Dean's eyes was only momentary, before he closed them, leaning in to capture Castiel's lips with his own. The kiss turned quickly from soft to needy and passionate. 

"I love you too, god dammit." 

Cas had to laugh. It was so like Dean to spit it out, another expletive in a fit of passion, rather than just say it. Baby steps, he thought. Baby steps.

Before he knew it, he was in Dean's lap, grasping at the buttons on the other man's shirt while strong arms found their way around his hips. 

"I think we should move this somewhere less public." He whispered in the space he took to breathe. 

"The RV?" Asked Dean. Cas shook his head. "No extra sheets." He moved his head down and pressed wet kisses along Dean's jawline and neck, earning a gasp of pleasure. 

"Guess we're goin’ in the impala then." Dean shook his head, laughing. "I feel like a friggin teenager."

"I think the sentiment is lost on me, as I was a teenager before your race existed."

"Well," said Dean, carding his hands in Cas's hair, "now you get to be a 90's kid. Welcome to the joys of car sex." 

Cas laughed. They magnates to make their way back to the parking lot fully clothed, and as they got in the impala and drove off, Dean put his hand on Cas's thigh and began stroking inward, nearing the bulge between his legs. 

This earned a moan from Cas, and Dean just had to glance over and watch those blue eyes roll back in pleasure. He smiled to himself. "You like that, huh?"

"Dean," choked Cas. "I don't know how much longer I can wait."

"Relax, we're almost there." As soon as they pulled into the empty lot, they clambered into the back seat, with Cas ending up on top of Dean. Their pants were soon considered trivial and thus, removed, as were their shirts. 

Dean relished in undressing the man on top of him, pressing his mouth to his collarbone and shoulders, not so much kissing as tasting, tongue flicking in and out. He knew he was supposed to compare it to heaven or something, but honestly, heaven sucked compared to this. 

Cas's length was hard and pressed against his stomach, beautifully pink and already leaking precome. It was then that something occurred to Dean. 

"Cas, is this your first time?" He asked, voice husky. 

Cas's head was pressed against his, eyes closed, lashes splaying out over pink cheeks.

"Yes, I believe it is." 

Dean leaned in closer to him. "Okay, are you sure, then?"

Cas's eyes opened, piercing into his. The sky would never be quite blue again after that night. 

"Don't stop." 

That was all it took. Dean took Cas's length in hand, and while his own brushed against the curve of the angel's backside, he began to stroke rhythmically. He bucked his hips at the same time, not entering his angel, but moving against him in time with his strokes. 

He could feel Cas coming apart in his arms. "Dean, Dean, I'm going to-"

"Come for me, baby." He was already there himself, after all. 

Their bodies shook with the pleasure of their shared orgasm, and Cas collapsed into Dean's arms. They fell back against the seat of the car, sticky with sweat and come. 

"Is it always that... good?" Asked Cas. 

Dean smirked at him. "Depends who you're with. I happen to pride myself on being very good." 

"I can see that." Teased Cas, narrowing his eyes. Dean chuckled. 

His phone began to ring. "Shit," he muttered. "Its Sam."

"Answer it, he might be worried." Encouraged Cas. 

Dean sighed and hit the answer button. "Hello?"

"Where the hell are you two? You've been gone for like, two hours." 

"We're fine, alright? We'll be back soon. Any idea what to do next?"

He could almost hear Sam roll his eyes on the other end of the line. 

"Yeah, we thought we'd head up to Sioux Falls and see if Jody could help us. Rose still isn't awake and she's our best bet."

"Alright." Said Dean. "We'll see you soon. He quickly hung up. 

"Dean," started Cas.

"Yeah?"

"... what exactly are we going to tell Sam?" 

Dean considered for a moment. "Well, if this is gonna happen again, we might as well beadults about it and tell him straight out." 

"Is it?"

"Is it what?"

Cas swallowed. "Is it going to happen again?"

Dean looked at him, unsure. "If you want it to, then yeah."

"I do want it to." He said quickly, before adding "Do you?" 

"Yeah." Dean said shakily. "Yeah, I do." 

"So that's it then." Cas motioned with his hand, not a question so much as a request for affirmation. "We just tell him."

"Well, we can wait until he asks." Shrugged Dean. 

"Yeah, I mean things are probably kind of crazy right now." Cas rubbed the back of his neck. 

"Yeah, that's right." Agreed Dean. 

When they got back, they learned that Rose's fever had gone up. When the thermometer read 101 degrees, Mickey and Jake looked at Sam like he'd sprouted a few extra limbs before they figured out the Celsius/Fahrenheit difference. 

"We should get going. Its twelve hours to Sioux Falls from here, but if we leave now we can do it in ten." Said Dean, pulling his and Sam's duffels together. 

"Speaking of which, where the hell did you two go?" Said Sam, more than a little annoyed. After all, they had disappeared, leaving him to deal with one sick alien girl and her two friends that weren't quite sure of him. It had been alright though, sam supposed.

_After Cas ran out and Dean had gone after him, Sam, Mickey, and Jake stood alone in the motel room. They had talked for a little while about what to do next, but when that got tiresome, Jake plopped down on the couch to watch TV._

_Sam had asked Mickey if he wanted a beer. "No thanks, mate." He had said. He had been standing in the back of the room, arms folded, half watching TV and half watching Rose sleep. Sam put a hand on his shoulder._

_"She'll be fine, you don't need to worry."_

_This just earned a glare from the shorter man. "How the hell do you know?"_

_Sam sighed. "I've seen people in worse shape than her make a comeback. I'll be really shocked if she doesn't."_

_Mickey shook his head. "You don't get it, do you? This isn't our life. Or at least, it wasn't. You know where she was born? London, England. In 1986. Her parents were human, and she was human too. She should still be human, and I have no idea how she's managed not to be. It's not about if she's gonna be okay, its about why she isn't okay in the first place."_

_Sam took it in. He could sort of see where Mickey was coming from. He was mad that his friend was hurt and he was a little scared because they didn't know what was happening to her. It was understandable, if he couldn't relate._

_"Its gonna have to be the other way around though, isn't it? I mean, there's nothing you can do about her being human or not. You just can't. All you can do now is try to get her better, and hope for the best. Even if this isn't what you planned for, you'll never be farther behind than you are right now."'_

And now here they were, with Cas and Dean back and a plan in mind. 

Dean looked around. "We didn't realize how much time had passed, sorry." Said Dean before changing the subject. "Who drives with who?"


	8. November Rain

The group decided that Mickey and Jake would drive the RV, switching drivers halfway so that one of them could drive while the other kept an eye on Rose. Sam, Dean, and Cas would lead the way to Jody's in the impala. They left as soon as the decision was made, not wanting to wait a moment longer.

They rode in silence. Sam knew that something was up, but he didn't know what or how to ask. It wasn't exactly strange, his brother and their friend had gone off by themselves before, but never for two hours during the middle of a crisis. And why the hell had they taken the car? Sam had an idea, but until he was sure, he wasn't getting in the backseat.

After about twenty minutes of Dean and Cas staring around in silence, however, Sam finally cracked. "So," he began "either of you wanna tell me where you were last night?"  
  
"We were together."

"Together, as in hanging out, together alone, together but not speaking...?" Asks Sam. He wanted a straight answer, and he was far too tired for Dean's shit.

Dean huffs. "If it really matters to you, we were together as in, like together together. Alright!?"

Dean stared at Sam for a long moment before the taller man began to chuckle and shake his head. "What, you're not gonna swerve off the road or anything." Asked Dean sarcastically.

Sam continued to laugh. "Are you kidding me? God, Kevin owes me so much money!! I knew it was gonna happen, I knew it."

Dean glared at him. "You fucking bet on us?!"

"Of course I did!" Said Sam. "You've been making doe eyes at each other for ages, it was bound to happen sometime."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. And for the record, Sam, I do not make 'doe eyes'."

"Whatever you say, Dean." Sam chided, smirking over the steering wheel.

Dean snuck a glance at Cas in the backseat, only to discover he had fallen asleep. _Crap_ , thought Dean, _he probably hasn't slept since he called._

Nebraska seemed to Dean like it would never end. The rolling green landscape offered little entertainment but gave Dean lots of time to think. Cas had really enjoyed last night, and so had he. What did that make them now? He said he wanted to do it again. We're they boyfriends? The word sounded juvenile and feminine to Dean. High schoolers texted each other about having boyfriends and girlfriends. He was sin his friggin thirties, and Cas was millions of years old, god dammit. Did million year old celestial beings have boyfriends?

Should they even put a label on it this early? Hell, they'd slept together one time. Once, that was it! Of course, they had talked about doing it again...  
His mind was going in circles now, like a hamster. Of course they were something, he just didn't know what yet. They'd been something for a long time, but never quite like this. According to Sam (and probably numerous other people), they'd been headed here from the start. That just left him to decide where to go now.

Of course, he should decide with Cas, shouldn't he? Of course.  
He put the matter out of mind for the time being and tried to get some sleep.

>

Rose's head was pounding. It was quite unlike anything she had ever felt before, a migraine times a thousand. It was so powerful that it kept anything else from registering in her mind, but the funny thing was, it wasn't exactly pain. Not like the migraines had been. This was something else entirely, something she didn't have a name for.

It took hours for it to pass. When it finally did, she realized she was laying in the back of the RV. Oh, and she was positively exhausted. Mickey was in the back with her, fiddling unconsciously with her mobile.

"Mick... Where are we?" She managed to get out.

"We're on our way to Sioux Falls to get you some help. Here, drink some water. We need to get your fever down." He said as he fished out a bottle of water and handed it to her.

"What happened to me?" She asked urgently, grabbing his wrist as he gave her the bottle.

"We think you regenerated, babe."

"Was I all glowy and bright? Do I look any different?" She asked as she drank. She needed to know; her energy was fading fast.

"Glowy and bright, like you said, but you didn't change your face."

It sounded like some kind of regeneration, but she didn't know for sure. And she was slipping fast. "Find the Doctor, he'll know." She told Mickey.

"We will. Don't worry. Just get some rest." And with those their parting words, she drifted back to sleep.

>

About six hours into the trip, they were forced to stop for gas somewhere in Nebraska. Dean went into the Gas 'n' Sip and picked up food for everyone, sneaking in a box of condoms and some lube. The clerk raised an eyebrow at him, but hey, he was a grown ass man. If anyone had the right to buy condoms at a shitty gas station, it was him. He tucked them carefully in his pocket before he left the building.

On the next part of the trip, Cas offered to drive so that Dean and Sam could get some sleep. At first, Dean was wary, but once Cas explained that Rose had taught him how to drive, he agreed to it. He climbed in the back and tried to get some sleep.

Three hours into the last leg of the trip, and Dean was sound asleep in the backseat. Sam had kept quiet until he was sure, speaking only long enough to give Cas directions to the state line. Once Dean was asleep, however, he saw his chance to talk to Cas.

"So Dean told me what happened last night." was his opening line. He saw the wheels in Cas's head begin to turn.

"He and I discussed it, and we decided it would be best not to lie about it." said Cas, measuring Sam for a reaction.

Sam shrugged "That was smart of you, I mean, I probably would've figured it out anyway. You two aren't the best liars." He glanced at Cas before continuing, "But that's not the reason I brought this up."

Cas's brow furrowed. "Why did you bring it up then?"

"I just wanted to tell you that if he decides to be a jerk to you, or does something stupid, I'll help you kick his ass."

Cas looked even more confused now. "I am not very familiar with dating customs, but shouldn't you be giving Dean this speech?"

"Ha!" Sam laughed. "With Dean's track record? I'm not even gonna bother. If it makes you feel better though, I'll kick your ass if you're a jerk."

Cas smiled almost in spite of himself. He really appreciated Sam talking to him. He couldn't quite explain it, but he and Dean felt more like family than the majority of his brothers and sisters ever had. They really cared about him, and lately, they had come to make sure he knew. It felt good.

>

They got to Jody's late that night. Dean and Sam ran out of the car, knocking urgently on the sheriff's door. "Jody, it's us, Sam and Dean! We need some help out here!"

Nothing. Not a light in the old house turned on. "Shit." muttered Dean under his breath. He turned around to face everyone. Mickey was holding Rose, who was wrapped in a blanket, and he and Jake were standing by the RV. "Is there another way in?" asked Cas. "We could just wait for her, she's probably working."

Dean was about to speak when he saw a squad car coming down the road. It pulled in the drive, and out stepped a sheriff with cropped brown hair.

"What the hell is going on here? Sam? Dean? Cas? What the hell are you doing here?" Before any of them could answer, she looked over at Mickey and Jake, and saw two people she didn't know, holding what looked like another person wrapped in sheets. "If that is a body-" she began.

Sam cut her off. "It's not a body. These are our friends, Mickey and Jake." He motioned to each of them in turn. Mickey spoke next. "This is Rose, and uh, well she's kind of sick, so we were hoping you could help us take care of her, cause we don't really know what to do."

"Are you kidding me?!" Scolded Jody. "Five grown men, and none of you know how to take care of someone who's sick?! What is wrong with all of you? Where did you even come here from?"

"Pueblo." Said Dean sheepishly.

"That's a twelve hour drive!" she reprimanded. She shook her head and sighed, hands on her hips. "You guys are idiots." She paused, looking at the now sulking Winchester boys.

"Do you think you can help us, though?" Pleased Cas.

"Alright." she conceded. "How sick is she?"

>

Once they got Rose into Jody's spare bedroom, they told her what happened.

"I don't get it." Questioned Jody. "If she healed herself, then why is she sick in the first place."

"We don't really know, we just know that when our other friend did it, he was sick too." said Mickey. He, Jake, and Cas had been trying their best to answer Jody's questions.

"And what did you do for him?"

"He just slept awhile. I really dunno, I was in and out. I think they gave him tea or something?"

Jody tried to think of something to do. The Winchesters had brought her weird problems before, but never something quite as strange as a sick, possibly-alien girl. Fever. She had a fever, so the first thing they should do was bring it down. She swore when she was done with this, she was forcing those boys to attend a first aid class. This girl was probably lucky they hadn't tried to patch her up with a fifth of whiskey and an aspirin. Speaking of which...

"Have you tried giving her aspirin?" she asked. It might be worth a shot.

Jake shook his head. "The Doctor was allergic to aspirin, she might be too. Best not to take chances."

"Alright then, washcloths it is. One of you go to the upstairs bathroom and get some from the cabinet, and someone else start running cold water from the tap." Cas went to the cabinet upstairs, and Jake was closest to the sink, so he started running the water. "Teach a man to fish..." she muttered under her breath as she went to go check on Rose.

 


	9. I Want To Hold Your Hand

Jody's house wasn't a mansion, but it was comfortable all the same. Rose was asleep in the spare room, and Sam had conked out in her son's old room as soon as the chaos died down. Jody had gone to sleep in her room after deeming Rose's fever low enough to be left alone and placing an old baby monitor in the room as a safety measure. The other monitor was on the kitchen table, with of the fact that the house wasn't so big that no one would hear it from another room.

Mickey and Jake had long ago fallen asleep on various couches, and Cas assumed that Dean had too. Honestly, the man could sleep anywhere. He knew from all the years he had watched over him. But Cas couldn't sleep. Not tonight, anyway, and he didn't know why. It felt like a thousand tiny butterflies were working their way from his sides through his stomach and up into his chest, and whenever he thought about Dean, they gathered speed and intensity so quickly it felt like they might burst out of him. He was being consumed by a rapid energy he didn't have a name for, but somehow, it felt good.

It felt like rainfall, like the days he had had time to simply watch the universe unfold, alone in the light. A little like wonder, but also a little closer to the heart. It was warm. It was the most human thing he had ever felt, he was sure. There had been a time when he thought that pain was the most human emotion, but now he was sure that it wasn't. Angels felt pain, demons felt pain, even Lucifer had felt pain once upon a time. But this was something entirely new, and for him, it was like discovering a new color. He wanted to feel it until it made him sick. He was sure the angels didn't have a name for it. Dean wasn't an emotion, but this one made sense only when he thought of him.

 _Humans call it love,_ he thought.

Love.

He had loved his father, and had been very fond of his family, but this was something else entirely. He was sure of it.

So he sat in the moonlight on the hood of the impala, looking at the sky and wondering if the stars tonight were brighter than usual.

>

This was where Dean found him. He had been wandering around the house, looking for him, when he wandered out onto the porch and saw him sitting on baby's hood, hugging his knees and looking up at the sky. It was around 3 AM, he had thought he would be asleep by now. Before he could even weigh his options, his feet were moving. Well, better hope this didn't turn into a chick-flick moment.

At the same time, though, a little voice in the back of his head went _how bad can a chick-flick moment really be?_

"Hey." he said, not wanting to ponder the musings of the little voice. "Whatcha doing?"  
"Looking at the stars." said Cas, shifting to make room for Dean. "Is it just me, or are they really bright tonight?"

He hopped up next to Cas. "It's probably the full moon, it always makes the sky look brighter than it is."

"Still, it looks beautiful."

Dean nodded in silent agreement. "Any reason you're stargazing at 3 AM?"

Cas shrugged, a small grin etching itself into his features. "Couldn't sleep is all." He wondered if he should tell him about the butterflies he felt. How to bring that up?

"You know," mused Dean, "The stars really won't be out for much longer here, Cas."

"All the more reason to enjoy them while they are." Quipped Castiel.

Dean shook his head, but smiled. He pulled a flask out of his coat pocket, unscrewed the top, and offered some to the man next to him. "Drink?" he offered.

Cas looked hesitant, but took the flask. "Long as we're out here, I guess." It turned out to be scotch, and he made a face at the burn in his throat, forcing Dean to hide a grin.

Dean took a long swig after him, and laid back on the windshield. Cas joined him, and he could feel the heat radiating off of the angel's body. A few good swigs later, and the small talk had morphed into a more intimate conversation, the kind that can only be achieved under the influence of alcohol in the small hours of the morning.

"Do you miss them?" asked Dean, slurring softly.

"Miss what? The stars?" Asked Cas in return.

"Yeah, them."

Cas considered. "Not really, no. I've always liked them from this angle." He was using Dean's shoulder as a pillow now, the hunter's arm around his shoulders. He could feel Dean's fingers tracing lazy patterns into his side. He wondered if he was doing it on purpose.

"You know what else I really like about this planet?"

"What's that?"

"Your beaches. Have you ever been to the beach in Oregon?"

"Why the hell would you go to the beach in Oregon?"

"Because it's beautiful."  
"Can you even swim?"

"Sure you can, you just have to go to the right one."

"No, no, I mean you. Can you swim?"

"Oh," Cas's face fell a little. "I don't know. I suppose not, since I have never tried."

"Well then, I'm gonna have to teach you before I take you to a beach."

Cas's face lit up. "We'll go? You promise?"

Dean laughed a little. He was so excited, like a kid going to a carnival. "Yes, I promise, we'll go sometime. Hell, we can probably go sometime soon. We just need to wrap things up at the bunker first."

"That's great!" Exclaimed Cas.

"Hey, hey, you'll wake up the whole house." Joked Dean.

"Sorry. That's great!" Cas repeated himself in stage-whisper.  
  
Now they were both laughing.

And Dean was looking at him. Staring, quite frankly, his evergreen eyes shining, reflecting the light of the moon and the heavens.

"Your eyes match the sky, angel." He whispers.

It was true. They glowed like a sky lit up with stars, alight. But Cas thought it had less to do with the sky itself and more to do with Dean.

Morning found them on the hood of the impala, wrapped in each other's arms, holding a flask that was empty save for the dew on the outside.

>

Morning found Rose Tyler laying in a bed in a house she didn't recognize, sunlight creeping in through the curtains. As the sleep drifted away from her, she realized where she must be. Jody's. She thought. This must be Jody's house. She noticed the monitor on the nightstand and felt the now dry washcloth on her forehead. They must have been trying to get her fever down the night before.

She felt better now than she had in days past. She went to the bathroom and discovered her hairbrush and hair ties had been placed on the counter. She assumed that Jody or Mickey must've put them in there. She began to brush her hair and realized she had very little idea what had gone on over the past few days. How long had she been out? Where were Mickey and Jake? Why had they brought her here in the first place? She had a vague idea that they didn't know exactly how to care for her, and she knew they couldn't have stayed in the motel for much longer. But why take her here?

She found her bag on the floor of her room and changed into clean clothes. Upon exiting her room, she discovered that she was on the first floor, just down the hall from the bathroom. She still felt a little weak, but she needed to walk around for a little.

As she walked into the kitchen, she saw a woman who must've been Jody standing at the window, looking out. She was obviously trying to hide a smirk, but her expression was also questioning. Rose went to stand next to her, and immediately saw what she was looking at.

Dean and Cas were sound asleep in each other's arms on the hood of the impala.

She fought back a giggle, covering her hand with her mouth. "We should get away from the window." Said Jody, also holding back a laugh. "They're gonna wake up and see us any second now."

It turned out that it wasn't their staring that woke them at all. They watched for a moment longer and saw Sam come around the corner of the house, garden hose in hand. "No." They breathed at the same time. Rose turned to look at Jody. "He won't." she said in disbelief. Jody shook her head. "That boy doesn't know when to back away from trouble."

Sam turned on the hose to a low pressure and started watering the ground around the car, holding back a grin. Dean began to wake upon hearing the noise, and as soon as he turned around, Sam put his thumb over the hole and sprayed Dean with the now pressurized water. It was all downhill from there.

It was like a slow motion car accident– you just couldn't look away. Jody and Rose watched as the chaos unfolded outside. Dean leaped off the car to chase after Sam, who kept spraying with the hose as he ran away. Cas chased after Sam as well, and eventually the both of them got the hose and chased Sam with it in the other direction. As this continued, it created a giant mud slick beneath them, and they only noticed this when they began to slip and slide. By the time they were finished, they were exhausted and covered in mud. "You son of a bitch." panted Dean. "I'm gonna get you back for this."

"Ah, but it was worth it." Smiled Sam as he laid back in the mud.

The front door opened and Jody called out "You all better rinse off before you come inside! You're covered in mud!"

"Yes, Jody!" Chorused three voices from outside.

Jody shook her head and closed the curtains. "Do you want something to eat? I've got muffins."

Rose shook her head. "No thanks, I still don't feel that great. D'you have tea though?"

Jody opened one of the cabinets. "You really should eat, you need the fuel." She located the tea and pulled down a box or two. "I have earl grey and raspberry."

"Earl grey, thanks."

"So how are you?" Asked Jody.

"I'm tired, but I'll be okay. I've had worse." She said.

Jody gingerly placed the cup in front of her. "You should still rest. If you don't want to sleep, I've got Monty Python on DVD."

Rose beamed. "That sounds great. And thank you so much for taking us in." She paused, sipping her tea. "Why exactly did they bring me here? Sorry, my memory's fuzzy."

"Don't apologize, it's fine." Jody waved her hand. "They didn't know what to do, so they thought I could help and decided to come here."

Rose's brow furrowed. "That was their only plan?"

"No, I think they called one of your other friends. Someone named Jack? But he didn't know what to do, so he said he'd get them in touch with some doctor."

Rose almost choked on her tea. "He said he could get in touch with the Doctor?"

"Relax, they haven't heard back yet." Said Jody. "He said he could make a few calls."

She cursed Jack internally. Why the hell hadn't he brought that up before? Then she thought that maybe he didn't think of it either. Well, better late than never.

"This doctor, can he help you?"

Rose smiled softly. "He's not really a doctor, that's just his name. The Doctor. He's an old friend of mine."

Jody raised an eyebrow, clearly not buying that. "A friend? Honey, I was your age once, I know that look."

Rose ducked her head, still smiling. "It was never official, though."

"Was? Did it end?" Asked Jody curiously. She didn't mean to pry, but these people were staying in her house, she might as well gossip with them.

A shadow passed over Rose's face. "It... we got separated. Had to say goodbye on this awful beach... it was hard. I've been trying to get back for a while now."

Jody put her hand over Rose's. "You'll get there. I know you will."

"You really think?"

"You are miss atomic bomb, honey! You literally survived death! After that, you can do anything."

For the first time, it really hit her what she had done. She was human, she had died, and came back. Just how human was she anymore? What had happened?

She smiled at Jody again. "Thanks, Jody. That means a lot."

"Let's go, girlfriend! It's movie time."

Rose went to sit on the couch as the boys trickled into the living room. Jake was already sprawled on the couch, and Mickey nudged him up. Sam plopped down into an armchair and Jody sat in another one after putting in the DVD. "Where are Dean and Cas?"

Sam rolled his eyes. "They're in the shower."

Jody smirked. "What are they, teenagers? Honestly."

The movie started, and all was soon forgotten as it began. However, as Galahad tried to make his way through Castle Anthrax, Mickey's phone rang. He jumped up, taking it to the kitchen to answer it. It was Jack.

"Lo?"

"I got you his phone number. God, next time you guys are in London, you owe a lobster dinner to one Martha Jones. She's the one who got him to take a phone at all, otherwise, well you know."

"Well tell her we said thanks, Jack. And thank you for all your help."

"Yeah, yeah. You're welcome, always happy to help. How's Rose?"

"She's awake now, watching a movie in the other room."

"Can I talk to her?"

"Course."

He walked into the other room and handed the phone to Rose, who stepped to the back of the room with it.

"Hey, Jack."

"Hey, Rosie, how 'ya feeling?"

"I'm better than I was. It was really draining, I didn't know how bad it would be. 'S it like that for you?"

Jack shook his head at the floor, breathing a deep breath. "See that's the thing, I don't regenerate. No glowing, no coma. I just pop back."

"What?" she breathed, somewhere between indignant and terrified.

"I don't know, Rose, I really don't. It's okay though, you're fine now. And I got ahold of the Doctor's number. I'll send it to you as soon as I hang up, okay?"

"Thanks so much Jack, I really owe you one. As if I didn't already."

"Don't mention it." Rose could hear the smirk in his voice. "And don't thank me, thank Martha. She got him to take a friggin phone in the first place."

"Alright, I will. See you soon."

"See ya, doll." There was a click on the line, and a moment after, a message appeared on the screen. She stepped outside, closed the door, and pressed 'call'.


	10. Here Comes The Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the last chaper! No more smut, I hope no one's disappointed, but there just wasn't enough UST. I hope you all liked it though!

The phone rang four times before it was answered. "Hello?"

She was biting her lip to keep from grinning. "Hello Doctor!"

Oh, she couldn't see him, but she could imagine what he looked like. Mouth gaping open, the usual. "What?! _What?!_ "

Oh god, it was so good to hear his voice again. She found herself with tears in her eyes, somewhere between laughing and crying. "I'm in Sioux Falls." she managed to get out. "South Dakota, USA. Mickey and Jake are here too. Can you come here? D'you need the time and date?"

"I can just trace the call, I'll be there soon. But, how did you get this number? How did you get to Sioux Falls?"

"It's kind of a long story, but Jack gave me this number. Martha gave it to him."

She heard the time rotor whirring on the other line, and before she knew it, the TARDIS was materializing at the end of the driveway, and out stepped the Doctor, phone still clutched in his hand.

Her feet were carrying her before she could even react. She ran down the mud of the driveway and straight into his arms, locking her own around him and burying her face in his shoulder. She felt his hands wind around her back and his nose in her hair, familiar and wonderful. All of the emotion from the past few weeks seemed to spill out of her, all that desperate hope turning into joy in the open air. She shook with it, and she could feel him trying not to. They stood there for a long while, unwilling to break apart. Eventually, though, they did.

He cupped her cheek. "How did you get here?"

She smiled. "I built this machine, this dimension cannon, so that I could come back."

His answering grin was blinding. "Shut up." She said, blushing. "I told you you were brilliant." He beamed at her still.

They ended up sitting in the lawn next to the house, spread out, her using his shoulder as a pillow. "Why British Columbia?" He asked.

"We don't really know. Sometimes we just landed in random places. He shook his head. "Void travel without a capsule. It's mad! You could've landed in the middle of the ocean, or in Antarctica!"

"We had some failsafes, we could narrow it down to a few latitudes."

"That's still insane."

"When have we ever been remotely sane?" She joked.

"So then what happened?"  
"Well, there were these falling stars. Thought it might've been aliens, but one of them landed really close to us, and we went to check it out. Turns out, they were all angels. Falling from heaven. The one we met, Castiel, he said that it was his fault, that he made a mistake. He said he needed to get to his friends in Kansas, Sam and Dean. We were pretty far off anyway, so we offered to help him get there. Turns out, he's really nice. He was being hunted by the other angels, they blamed him for their home being destroyed. Only, he couldn't fight them anymore, he lost his powers when he fell. So he got some tattoo that hides him from them."

"So is that why there's an RV parked in the driveway?"

"Yeah, we bought it and drove it here. Well, we actually didn't plan to come here. We met up wits Cas's friends, Sam and Dean, in Colorado. But, uhm, we sort of had to come here." She played absently with a lock of her hair.

"Why?" He asked, a little concerned.

"So, Sam and Dean are demon hunters. When we met with them, they were hunting some kind of shapeshifter, and we offered to help them. Only, when we cornered it, it got ahold of a gun, and decided it needed to make an escape, so it sort of shot me."

Now he was really concerned. She saw his eyebrows shoot up. "It sort of shot you, or it shot you?"

"It shot me. In the stomach." she clarified.

He stared at her, mouth open, stuck between concern and anger. "How long ago did this happen?!"

"About three days." She said, biting her lip.

"If you're having me on, this really isn't funny."

"I'm not." He could see in her eyes that she was serious. They'd joked with each other often, and this wasn't her joking.

"So do you wanna tell me how you're alive right now, much less awake?"

She took a deep breath before answering. "We think it was Bad Wolf. You know, how Jack can't die because of it? We thought the same thing happened to me, but we called him, and he said it wasn't. He just pops back, and he's fine right away, but it took me longer. I slept for the better part of two days. Oh, and Jack doesn't regenerate. I did. Or at least, something close to it. I glowed, like you did."

He exhaled heavily through his nose. "That's..." He paused, shaking his head. "That shouldn't be possible. Why it happened, I don't know. Why did you come here, then?"

"The lady who lives here, Sheriff Jody Mills, she helped take care of me. She's a friend of the Winchesters'."

"We really need to check on that, though. I should have removed it all from you on the Games Station, but now I'm thinking it may have done something to your DNA. If it started there, there was no way I would've been able to stop it. Have you noticed anything else weird?"

She shrugged. "Nothing really. I mean, I get these headaches sometimes, and now that you mention it, they started around the time that Bad Wolf happened. They were really small at first, but they've been getting more noticeable. D'you think it could be connected?"

"Depends. When do they usually happen?"

"Sometimes before something big happens, they're really bad. But other times they're less like headaches and more like... I don't know. Like something's being built."

"You may be gaining psychic ability. The bad ones, you said they happen before something big does? You may be sensing the timelines. Did you have one when you saw Jack?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think anything of it. I've been having them a lot lately, I guess leading up to this."

"I had one when I saw Jack again. He's wrong, he's a fixed point. I can sense it, he feels wrong."

"Tell me you didn't say that to him." She looked at him worriedly.

"Well..." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"You didn't." She said exasperatedly. "You probably hurt his feelings."

"I didn't mean to, but it's true! Even the TARDIS felt it! She went to the end of the universe trying to shake him off!"

She shook her head. "Still. You could've at least lied."

"Too late now." He shrugged.

"So what've you been up to?" She asked.

"Ah, same old thing. Met a med student named Martha, she came with me for a while. Ooh, and just before that, when we were, um, ah— There was this woman named Donna, and she appeared on the TARDIS when I was floating in space! In her wedding dress! Turns out, her fiancé had been dousing her with huon particles, he was working for this alien spider called the Racnoss. The Empress, actually. Offered to take Donna on a trip when it was all over, but she turned me down. Couple of weeks later was when I met Martha, and a few months after that, her and I ran into Jack again." He paused to look over at Rose, and saw her smiling. The sunlight was catching her hair, and it made her glow.

'"Tell me more. Where'd you take Martha? What's she like?" Rose remembered Jack mentioning her. She wanted to meet all of these new people.

He started with the story of their first trip, seeing Shakespeare. He was part way through when he heard the door creak open behind them. A woman in a sheriff's uniform with cropped brown hair walked out.

"Hi, Jody." said Rose, sitting up. "This is the Doctor."

"Ah, I was wondering what was taking you so long. Sheriff Jody Mills." Said Jody, reaching to shake the Doctor's hand.

"Hello. Nice to meet you. So you've heard of me, then?"

"Of course I have. Her and her two friends say they've been looking for you for awhile. You're welcome inside, I've got to run to the station, apparently everyone there is lost without me."

"Actually," He paused, looking at Rose. "We'll probably be on our way soon. So while you're here, thank you so much for taking care of her. I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate your help."

Jody blushed slightly. "Why thank you, you're so polite. It wasn't any trouble, and honestly, any friends of the Winchesters' are friends of mine."

"You know, you could always come with us if you fancy a trip? It's not just a spaceship, it's a timeship too."

Jody's eyes went wide for a second. "I'll have to pass." She said. "Like I said, there's folks here that need me. And from what I hear, there's people that need you two as well. I'll see you 'round."

"Thank you Jody, for all your help." Said Rose, hugging the other woman.

"Stay outta trouble, kids."

"We'll try." They laughed, and Jody was off in her squad car.

>

The rest of the day went by quickly. Rose barely managed to keep the Doctor from going off at the Winchesters about the dangers of guns. "They know the risks, alright? They don't have a choice. Someone's got to do their job." However, he did manage to make nice with them, Cas especially. They declined a trip in the TARDIS, of course, with their demon hunting duties.

The next stop was London, where Mickey and Jake said their goodbyes before departing back to Pete's world using the cannon equipment. From there, they went to see Jack and his team. He was ecstatic to see Rose again, and to make sure she was alright.

All in all, it was a pretty exhausting day.

However, it was not quite exhausting enough to force them to sleep.

>

When all was said and done, they lay in each other's arms in a post-coital bliss. It was all they could have asked for, save for one loose end that had been nagging at Rose. "So, if I'm psychic now, will I be able to hear you?"

"Maybe. I don't know how psychic you are yet, exactly."

"Is there a way for you to tell?"

"I'd have to look inside your mind. I could do it, if you'd be alright with it."

"Would you be able to see, like _everything in there?_ "

"No, no. I promise, I won't pry. Just take whatever you don't want me to see and imagine closing it behind a door."

"Alright then, let's do this."

He turned to face her, putting his hands on her temples. "Just close your eyes and relax"

She felt a gentle pressure in her mind, like someone knocking on a door. She imagined a door opening, and then she saw him. It looked like he was walking in through a door. There was a long corridor in front of him, lined with doors, and more corridors splitting off of that. "It's quite organized in here. Most humans, it's just random thoughts swimming around, like an aquarium. You've got good mental defenses, which is significant. Most psychic-born species have to be taught how to do this."

"Why's mine like this?"

He shrugged. "My guess is that the TARDIS built them up when she realized what had happened after the games station. Made you safer, she did. Less chance of something like Cassandra happening again."

"But Cassandra got in you too."

"She was extremely strong, even with defenses like this. Something weaker wouldnt've been able to get in, but if you didn't have walls up, then really anything can get in. That's why psychics are trained to have defenses."

"So, can we communicate?"

"When we want to, yes. I won't be able to hear you all the time, and you're strong enough to directly communicate, which is good. That means that only we people you want to hear you can, and not just anyone within range."

"So how do I do it?"

"We're doing it now. Your lips aren't moving."  
 _Oh my god, our lips aren't moving._ she thought.

"I can hear you." He said, smirking. "I'll leave, and you can practice doing it directly to my mind."

He stepped backwards towards the door, and left. She felt the loss immediately, like a blanket being pulled away.

"How do I send you a thought?" she asked.

"Just move towards me with your mind. Once you get the hang of it, it's like riding a bike."

She did what he said to, and focused on a thought, trying to move it towards him. Once she did it, she felt his warmth returning to her.

"Good to know you're happy." He said, smiling softly.

She wasn't done yet, though. She wanted to experiment with her new skill. She picked out some good memories, Woman Wept, Queen Victoria, some other odds and ends, and tried to share those.

In return, he sent back some of his own. Christmas with her mum, chips on other planets, dancing as the bombs fell during World War II.

"Not a bad life." She grinned, tongue poking out of her teeth.

"Better with two." He grinned back.

 


End file.
